“Crystal of Verde Village, my granddaughter, I summon you to Jimmy’s Pawn Shop on West Baldo Street!”

“Pft~! Hahaha~! Baldo Street~! Haahahahahaha~!”

“Orina, shut up!” Emerald glared at the silly little brat and looked around the room anxiously, especially the ‘summoning circle’ that looked like a pentagram with a bunch of incense, a portrait in the middle and some ectoplasmic blood splattered around.

“Why isn’t it working?!”

“Why else?” Greenstone rolled his brown eyes and complained, “Are you sure she’s really dead?”

“Of course not! But… I guess… Well, maybe Klein was able to save our baby before that bitch did anything?”

“There’s an easy way to find out.” Peridot sneered and conjured a long metal spike in her right hand, “Summon Granny Woods!”

“She’s right!” Emerald conjured a long and sharp metal ruler with a fierce expression on her ghostly face, “What if those bastards still wanna hunt us down in the afterlife?! It’s better if we get rid of them for good!”

“Cool! Give me a weapon too! I haven’t fought anybody in a while! Hahaha~!” Orina reached out and took a mining pick from Peridot, “This… Peri, you gotta make your weapons like ‘this’ or you won’t be able to hurt ghosts!”

The normal-looking pick became somewhat transparent and ethereal in Orina’s hands. Greenstone also conjured up a sharp ruler of his own, though he didn’t need to do anything special to it because he wasn’t a ‘Teacher’, just a Ghost. Verda pulled out a sawed-off shotgun from behind the counter and loaded it with spiritual buckshot. Moss unsheathed a big black knife from his hip and twirled it around a few times.

“Woods of Verde Village, I summon you to Jimmy’s Pawn Shop on West Baldo Street!”

“What the hell?” In a puff of green smoke, a confused woman blinked her eyes a few times and looked around the room at those familiar faces. Then she conjured up a small silver pistol and started shooting without hesitation!

*Boom~!* Verda also fired her shotgun from both barrels at once, blasting a giant gaping hole out of Woods’ torso, but leaving no traces on the walls behind her… The bullets from Woods’ gun, though, passed straight through Peridot and Emerald, breaking the glowing green glass windows behind them!

“Bitch! Die!” Emerald screamed and chopped Woods’ arm off with the ruler, then she started punching and kicking her violently.

“Uh, Emy, Aunt Emy!” Peridot had to pull her off the mangle ghastly ‘corpse’ of the Spectral Spy that was slowly regenerating, “We’re not trying to kill her! We need information!”

“Huh? Oh, hahaha, yep! Haha~!” Emerald pushed her bloody blonde hair out of her face and giggled awkwardly.

Peridot conjured up a bunch of spectral metal chains and strong ropes to tie up what was left of Woods’ body. Then they had to wait for her to regenerate completely and regain consciousness before Emerald started interrogating the confused ghost.

“What happened to Crystal?! What did you do to my daughter after you murdered me?!”

“Crystal? Damn it! That bastard Klein!” After regaining her senses a bit, Woods grimaced, “I need to… I need to report to my superiors! I need to warn them!”

“Screw your superiors!” Peridot punched her in the mouth and knocked out a few translucent teeth, “Crystal is obviously still alive! Don’t waste time with this evil bitch! Grandpa, summon the others! Start with the youngest kids! Especially the babies!”

“Okay.” Greenstone chuckled and looked at a few pictures of babies. There were only five in the whole village, so Summoning them was fairly simple. He was actually able to Summon four of them at once. The floating ghostly infants were crying for their parents or simply exploring around. To keep them from escaping, Peridot tied their ankles with spectral ropes, making them look like little balloons…

“Well, I need to hire a window repairman now. So I’ll take these coins as compensation… And for renting my shop to perform your little summoning ceremony.”

It was obviously going to be a long, drawn-out process to summon or attempt to summon hundreds of ‘people’, so Verda had other things to do…

“By the way, Verda, what about Oscar?”

“Hah~! That bastard’s probably at the strip club down the street!”

Peridot rolled her eyes and asked, “Have you seen Oliver’s parents over the years?”

“Olive and Orlando?” Verda took out a cigarette and started smoking, making the air quality even worse than before, “I’ve seen ‘em a few times, but they usually stay up in the mines. Even after death, those two crazy bastards are still workaholics. Maybe they’re worse now…”

“Waaaah~!”

“Maybe it’s all they can remember anymore.” Moss breathed out a puff of smoke and flicked the ashes on his cigarette, “Mining endlessly, mindlessly, using spectral tools that can’t even break the rocks anymore. Sometimes I wonder, what’s the point? Why am I… Still here?”

“Dad…”

“Hahaha~!” Moss suddenly reached out and hugged Verda’s slightly plump waist, “But then I get laid and who gives a shit about anything else?! Hahaha~!”

“I don’t know what I was expecting.” Peridot flipped her father off and walked back over to Emerald, who was comforting the kids that have been summoned so far.

“Peri! Don’t just stand around! Help me out here!” Greenstone suddenly yelled from the middle of the room, “I’m only a Rank 1 Ghost! Every time I do this Summoning Ritual it costs a lot of energy I don’t have…”

“I gotcha. Don’t worry, I’m Rank 6, so I can probably last a while. Just do all the extra shit and I’ll say the words.”

“It’s more than just saying a few words! You have to envision the person you’re summoning! The more you remember and know them, the easier it’ll be!”

“Okay then.” Peridot shrugged and shouted, “Barilo of Verde Village! My childhood friend! I summon you to Jimmy’s Pawn Shop on West Balding Street!”

“Baldo Street!”

“Sorry, Baldo Street! Whatever!”

“Hahahaha~!” Orina started laughing again nearby, “Baldo Street~!”

“You have to say it and believe it!” Greenstone shouted angrily, “Didn’t I teach you anything?! Cursed Words are all about belief, imagination and will! You can’t be half-hearted!”

“Fine, fine, whatever~!” Peridot yawned and then stretched out her hands, “Barry, if you don’t get your ass over here this instant, I’m gonna tell Ivy about the magazines you keep under your bed~!”

“Damn it, Peri! Don’t you dare!” The burly bearded man suddenly appeared in the air above the bloody hexagram and the candles all went out… Well, they had to relight them after every summoning.

“Baldo~! Hahahaha~!” Orina floated next to him in mid-air, pointing at his shiny head and laughing.